Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is No. 1, but not quite as mighty

LOS ANGELES — Dino-mite? Not quite. But “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” arrived to a still-huge $150 million in ticket sales at domestic theatres over the weekend.

“Fallen Kingdom,” which cost Universal Pictures at least $300 million to make and market worldwide, had the impossible task of living up to its franchise predecessor, “Jurassic World,” which arrived to almost $225 million in opening-weekend ticket sales in 2015, after adjusting for inflation. “Jurassic World,” which benefited from pent-up demand and generally positive reviews, went on to collect roughly $1.8 billion worldwide.

“Fallen Kingdom,” which received mixed-to-negative reviews, is holding its own, however. It received an Aminus grade in CinemaScore exit polls. (“Jurassic World” got an A.) And “Fallen Kingdom” has already taken in about $561.5 million overseas, where it has been playing for weeks, in part because Universal wanted to get ahead of World Cup fever. Ticket sales in China for “Fallen Kingdom” have been particularly strong.

Despite some high-profile misfires, including the recent “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” the North American box office has bounced back from an alarming downturn last summer. For the year so far, ticket sales in the United States and Canada stand at $5.9 billion, an 8.5 per cent increase from the same period last year, according to comScore. Still to come this summer are expected hits like “Skyscraper,” “The First Purge” and “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!” — all from Universal.

Second place for the weekend went to “Incredibles 2” (Disney), which collected a $80.9 million, for a two-week domestic total of $350.3 million, according to comScore.